Peter and Sanna are visiting Jersey from Finland to complete an intensive sea kayak training course. While here they have been blown away by the quality of Jersey seafood and asked us to show them, how to prepare Jersey lobster.

Back in Finland lobster is an expensive dish, so it’s important to get it right. They were also keen to learn how to prepare fish.

Knowing just how passionate Daniel and Mary at Bracewell’s Restaurant, St Aubin, are about using fresh Jersey produce to produce their excellent meals, it seemed a good idea to ask a professional chef to show them.

Sanna’s homework was to go to Faulkner fisheries at L’Etac to buy a live Jersey lobster and four brill. The lobster was popped into a plastic bag with a couple of elastic bands around its claws and she boarded the bus with her ‘catch of the day’. Fortunately the lobster didn’t try to make an escape attempt on the number 12a bus.

Concentration time

At Bracewell’s Daniel set about preparing the lobster and brill at a rapid rate and armed with a razor sharp knife, which he tested for sharpness by cutting pieces of paper with. “Tell me to go slower, if you can’t keep up” Daniel reminded us with a smile.

Having watched the expert prepare a lobster and then fillet the brill, Peter had to prove his skills. No question, he took far longer. What looked so easy with Daniel proved to be much harder for a novice – be it taking off the skin of the flatfish or getting the meat off the bones.

With some professional tips from Daniel, Peter was soon starting to get the hang of filleting fish.

By the end of the class the family had a lobster and a selection of fillets to take back to their apartment with. As might be expected the lobster and fish were eaten that night, and Peter is already planning to head out to buy more Jersey seafood to practice his preparation skills.